It’s not baseball weather in Nebraska. No insight there. But consider that as a lead-in for the Huskers’ season-opening visit to Arizona, where they’ll play in the MLB Desert Invitational in Scottsdale, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and a game against Grand Canyon in Phoenix Monday.
They open against UC Irvine at 2 p.m. CST., televised on MLB.com.
Coach Will Bolt, who has a veteran team, was asked about its depth during a Monday news conference. “I think that’s always the age-old question before every year, right, is like: ‘Aw, the depth’s better this year.’ I think that’s just by nature we feel like it is,” he said. “We’d want it to be.”
And it would seem to be.
“I feel like because we have so many returning players that weren’t just role players last year, that were everyday players,” Bolt said. “We have a sense of what they can do. And then we’ve seen them play in high-pressure situations, obviously, we see how they respond to that.”
Junior shortstop Dylan Carey, who has started 114 times the last two seasons, provided evidence of the “veteran” adjective, or “maturity,” as he called it.
He understands, “65-percent of our at-bats return,” Carey said. “That’s unbelievable.”
That certainly contributes to a veteran batting order. And the pitching staff, too. Three of the top four starters return, including junior right-hander Mason McConnaughey, Friday’s starter.
McConnaughey, second-team All-Big 10 after transferring from Cloud County Community College, has been named a second-team Preseason All-American by the NCBWA and a third-team Preseason All-American by D1 Baseball as well as being included on the Golden Spikes Preseason Watch List.
He was 9-3 with a 3.45 earned run average last season.
Nebraska’s other starters in Arizona are slated to be, in order, sophomore right-hander Ty Horn, redshirt senior left-hander Will Walsh and senior left-hander Jackson Brockett.
Senior outfielder Gabe Swansen was among the players Bolt mentioned. He and Cael Frost, a senior transfer from South Dakota State, are expected to be the regular left and right fielders.
Swansen, “Swany” as Bolt calls him, overcame early struggles to hit .327, with eight home runs and 22 runs-batted-in last season. “We’ve seen him at his very best. We’ve seen him when he’s had some hard times, right? But he’s navigated those things now,” said Bolt.
“When he’s a senior, you know, he’s a guy that needs to be in the lineup for us. He needs to produce. He needs to be in the lineup but he doesn’t need to chase stats. He needs to chase good at-bats. I think that’s where he got himself in trouble some last year, early, he was chasing the accolades, you know, some of the stuff that was coming his way, draft status. He’d be the first to admit that.”
Swansen has set those things aside.
“He’s just in a different head space now,” Bolt said. “So when he’s right, he’s one of the best hitters in the conference. He’s an All-American type player.”
He’s among the nation’s Top 100 Seniors, according to @PerfectGameUSA, as are Frost and right-hander Drew Christo, who was 3-3 with a 4.62 ERA and one save last season.
Sophomore first baseman Case Sanderson, redshirt-junior second baseman Cade Brumbaugh and sophomore utility play Max Buettenback were among others about whom Bolt was asked or commented on Monday, as were junior left-hander Jalen Worthley, a reliever; senior catcher Hogan Helligso, a Creighton transfer; senior outfielder Riley Silva and, well, players are going to be left out, so . . .
“Ultimately, what I’d like to have, at least five or six guys that are entrenched,” said Bolt. “I mean, I think you need to have that. You need to have guys that have established themselves as everyday players, and when they do that, they’re just consistent over the course of the year.
“And then you’ve got some spot in there, maybe three or four of them, you can kind of mix and match, play some matchups and defense, and some of those things.”
Everyday player or not, “each and every guy’s going to have an impact on this team,” said Carey.
Let’s play ball!
– Mike Babcock
